List Review: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Rating: 4/5

Released: 3 January 2012

Summary: (Taken from Goodreads)

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, the ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

In an attempt to organize my thoughts better, this review will be in bullet points! Here are the top 5 thoughts I had while reading Marissa Meyer's Cinder: (Read summary above to get the gist of the story, because I won't go over it)

1. WORLD-BUILDING: Meyer has come up with an incredibly creative world, and all the different influences mashed together really nicely. Having seen the real Beijing, New Beijing was not hard to imagine at all as Meyer describes it: futuristic, dirty, and crowded. It kind of reminded me of the way Joss Whedon incorporated Asian and sci-fi influences in FIREFLY, which is, if you haven't seen it, both one of the best TV shows you will ever watch and one of the most disappointing cancellations in television history.
   
   
2. LUNARS: I loved the fact that the Lunars, an evolved society living on the Moon, literally overshadowed them. I liked the subtle racism, if it can be called that, and the us-vs-them mentality that arose from their fear of the Lunars; it felt very realistic and relevant. While the Lunar Queen was rather one-note as far as villains go, the sequels (one of which I believe is set on the Moon) leave a lot of room for further development, and I'm really looking forward to learning more about their society.
   
   
3. CYBORGS: Only a few parts of Cinder were robot/mechanical parts, and I think I was imagining her as much more robot than not. So while Cinder feels isolated and shunned, the question of her humanity does not play as big a part as I expected it to. Those who have read the book may be wondering if I read the book at all at this point, but when I refer to her humanity I refer to it as it relates to her CYBORG status alone. The way the others treat her, especially her step-sisters, feels less 'get-away-you're-not-human' and more 'you're-different-so-we'll-make-fun-of-you'. Which I was totally fine with, once it was made apparent.
   
   
4. KAI: Prince Kai is the love interest in this book, and while he was a likeable character with quite heavily felt responsibilities, I didn't find myself as invested in their relationship as I wanted to be. :( It wasn't really that clear what Kai saw in Cinder, and almost felt as if he liked her just because she was a dirty mechanic from a poor part of the city, and not for anything she actually said or did. However, though I was a bit meh on their actual chemistry (or lack thereof), their relationship did develop at a rather nice and natural pace, and Kai didn't display any stalker tendencies, which is always a plus. Their relationship is sweet but barely there, although after that crazy cliffhanger I really want to see how they evolve in the second book!
   
   
5. ANDROIDS: I LOVED them! I really wished the android-owner relationship had been explored more. Iko, Cinder's android, has a really spunky personality that was sort of briefly explained away as a 'faulty personality chip', but I really wanted to learn more about how they worked. Why was Iko so loyal? Was it because Cinder owned her, and thus she was programmed to be loyal, or was it because she actually had some sort of affection for her? I really wanted to learn more about where the line is crossed in Meyer's world. It would be rather sad to think of Iko as merely programmed, but also realistic, and would make Cinder's loneliness feel that much more real. Prince Kai's android seemed to fit the programmed mold a lot more neatly, though.

Overall, I really enjoyed this! It was a very light, entertaining read, set in a fascinating world with so much potential as a series in the long term. The actual twists in the plot were rather painfully predictable, and if I had one complaint, it would be that because Meyer's world is so awesome, I just wanted a bit more of everything - more explanation of the Lunar world, more interactions with the androids, etc. But really, it was such a fast and fun read that in the end, I didn't really mind. It ended on a tense cliffhanger, and I'm excited to see where Meyer takes it next!

Side notes:

1. Picture of the world in FIREFLY for your reference. This was sort of what I imagined poorer parts of the Eastern Commonwealth to look like as I read, minus the Palace. I can imagine the quarantine area looking like this. There's even a spaceship!

Taken from Firefly wiki